


A Risk Worth Taking

by Wingless_Hummingbird



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Bad Puns, Depressed US!Papyrus, Dubious Consent, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, God Complex, Light Bondage, Light Masochism, Light Sadism, M/M, Porn With Plot, Soul Sex, hurt/comfort?, soul-touching, stretch needs a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:49:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29253969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wingless_Hummingbird/pseuds/Wingless_Hummingbird
Summary: Underswap Papyrus spends a night without his brother.He isn’t doing so well, but the stubborn skeleton refuses to talk to his friends about his problems. Well, he faces a nightmare instead.Both won’t get out of this unscarred…
Relationships: Nightmare/Stretch, Papyrus (Underswap)/Sans (Dreamtale), Papyrus/Sans (Undertale), Underswap!Papyrus/Nightmare!Sans
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	A Risk Worth Taking

**Author's Note:**

> So… I wanted to write an interaction between Underswap Papyrus and Nightmare and see how it goes…  
> I guess that escalated… But I somehow like them together. ~
> 
> WARNING: I guess it's kinda dark? Proceed with caution since I'm still learning how to tag properly. :D

His brother didn’t come home today, Stretch could theoretically hang out at Muffet’s until late at night or smoke in the living room without getting scolded.

But he chooses to collapse on his bed instead. His orange hoodie lies abandoned on the unclean carpet. Picking it up would be too much effort. Same goes for the empty bottles of honey scattered across the room. Everything has become too much effort since the last couple of weeks.

He sighs heavily and curls in on himself, trying to shut out the rest of the world. Why does he have to be this way? They made it to the surface a long time ago, he and Blue met other skeletons and he won’t have to face this demonic kid ever again. RESETs are no more. Hopefully.

Perhaps a phone call could help ease this depressive episode. Sans would understand him. Stars, most of the other skeletons would listen to him, trying to support him in some way. But he just lies in between his own mess, helplessly and with an agony so powerful that his bones wouldn’t respond to commands.

He shuts his eye sockets, dejected, his soul is inflamed with emotions and realization of his incapability to help himself out of this desolation.

But days like these won’t last forever. It’ll go away soon, and everything will be alright again. As long as Blue is far away and unknowing, he can allow himself to dwell in those feelings safely.

It’s way past midnight when he notices a movement at the opposite side of the room. His body tenses at the overwhelming feeling of dread lingering at every corner of his dark room. A mixture of hate, animosity, and resentment. 

Well, Blue fights a lot of crazy skeletons as an official member of the Star Sanses. Maybe one found his way in here and seeks revenge?

The tall skeleton forces himself to relax and shifts his body until he’s lying confidently on his back. He puts his hands behind his skull for good measure. Oh stars, he’d do everything for just one cigarette right now. “My bro isn’t here, and I highly suggest that ya don’t even think about taking 1 HP from him.”, the passive aggressive warning rolls off his tongue easily.

A dark chuckle erupts from the shadows. “A threat coming from a monster who cannot even take care of himself at the moment. How amusing.”, Nightmare steps out of the room’s darkest corner. His single eyelight glows with unmatched intensity, casting a cyan light on the rest of his black body. Four strong tentacles swish around his frame like tails.

Stretch heard of this skeleton before. The god of negativity. A blank expression sweeps over his face as the gravity of this situation seeps in. “Can’t you feed off others' negativity? I’m not in the mood right now.”

Nightmare’s sinister grin widens. The emotions Papyrus emits are a harsh contrast to what he’s trying so hard to convey. “How could I possibly deny myself the pleasure to indulge in your emotions? Monsters like you fuel my endless power. You should be proud, the very energy I draw from you is the one that hurts your beloved brother.”

This remark earns him a spike of guilt and anger.

Stretch curls his fingers up tightly behind his skull, his left eyelight flares up in a vivid orange only to calm down a second later. This is exactly what the intrusive skeleton wants, and Papyrus won’t grant him this wish. Instead, the slender skeleton places one foot over the other lazily. “It’s not my magic that harms my bro. No offense, pal, but you could be your own self-sustaining power source judging from I know about ya.”

Nightmare’s tentacles twitch once. “Perish the thought. My suffering ended a long time ago, while yours seems to last for an eternity. Why is it that you are still bound by the life you left behind?”, he steps closer to Stretch.

The tension omnipresent in his soul is increasing. This is bad. He sits up as nonchalantly as possible to get a better look at the dark skeleton. Why him out of all monsters? Doesn’t he suffer enough as it is? Isn’t it sufficient to worry about Blue all the time, to keep trying even if he wants to give up?

“You don’t have to hide your emotions from me, Stretch. I can feel them as clearly as my own. Tell me what drives you to the brink of despair. Drown in your misery like you did before. Let me watch you fall apart until your HoPe is at 1.”, tentacles hover near the bed like snakes cornering its prey.

But Stretch’s eyelights merely glint amused. “Careful there, that almost sounded like you’re offering your help. Telling ya about my feelings and-”, before he could even finish his sentence, a pointed tentacle lingers right above his soul. Said soul pulsates panicked at the looming danger.

Nightmare’s grin grows spiteful. “I am certainly not the one who should be careful. I don’t condone cocky behavior; my patience is already running low today.”

Stretch’s wide eye sockets meet the other’s glare, while both of them remain in their current positions.

Slowly as if by an invisible hand, Papyrus wraps his phalanges around the tip of the tentacle, wondering how they feel. Touching alone lets anxiety crawl his way deep into his soul. But besides that, the appendance feels warm and silk beneath the thin layer of liquid.

The closer he looks at Nightmare, the more his fear lessens. Beneath all that negativity hides a skeleton like himself. Night’s brother, Dream, is actually one of Blue’s closest friends. What happened between them that made him hate the positive skeleton so much?

“Let go.”, Nightmare whispers with a slight hiss and the tentacle wiggles in his grasp.

His phalanges only tighten the grip, “Somebody who harms his own bro is less than the trash at the garbage dump. I don’t care if ya call yourself a god. If that’s what it means to be divine, I’d rather feel miserable for the rest of my life.”

Another tentacle shoots forward and wraps around Stretch’s neck tightly. His mouth opens but no words are coming out, while pressure around his throat is increasing until becoming painful. Nightmare narrows his eye socket in sadistic pleasure.

That’s when Papyrus’ body jolts awake, and he struggles to get free. Several bones appear around the dark skeleton but vanish when their owner gets smashed against the wall. Little black dots appear in his field of vision.

Will this be his end?

A second tentacle slides along his spine to stabilize the tall skeleton while he’s pinned against the wall. Nightmare comes closer until they’re standing in front of each other and the god of negativity looks up at the helpless skeleton. “Don’t act like you stand on moral high ground. You are dumber than I thought when you prefer misery over power.”, his low voice and firm pressure around his spine let Stretch shiver.

“What can I say…”, he looks down at Night, “…I do have the _high ground_. Even before I got, heh, _wrapped up_ in this whole situation. Why are ya getting so _tangled_ \- Mpfh-”, the tip of the tentacle, which is wrapped around his neck, forces itself inside Stretch’s mouth, effectively muffling his voice.

“Stop talking… Why must all of you miserable creatures bother me with your insufferable puns.”, Nightmare states annoyed.

The first instinct is to gag as strange liquid drips in his mouth. But on second thought, the taste isn’t half as bad as anticipated. The firm grip on his entire spine combined with the pressure around his neck and taste in his mouth sends an unwanted heat down Stretch’s pelvic region. Theoretically, the mighty skeleton could do everything with him right now.

The increasing ease of this world’s Papyrus irritates Nightmare. Being tied up and forced against a wall is usually far from enjoyable. There’s no need for him to stay when he can’t profit from negative feelings. This universe is way too positive to begin with.

In an instant, the tentacles let go of him and he drops on to ground, gasping for air he doesn’t need. He lifts his head as soon as his breathing calmed, but the other skeleton is nowhere to be seen.

Stretch badly needs a cigarette. Or two. He shortcuts to the living room, grabs his pack of cigs and lights the first one with shaking hands. His mind is racing, not fully comprehending what just happened. 

Not even the bitter smoke can extinguish the taste in his mouth. Bittersweet, like apples infused with strong coffee. An unnamed desire becomes a living force that creeps up his spine like some hungry beast.

The semi darkness doesn’t aid to calm the anxiety. Shadows play tricks on his alerted senses; warping shapes are creeping in all corners.

He doesn’t even finish his first cigarette before he returns to his room, only to find it still empty.

…

The following day Stretch feels slightly better for some reason. Is it because of the adrenaline? Or the euphoria that he survived an encounter with the god of negativity? He can’t tell.

His eyes shift from the ceiling to the clock. Blue should be back within the next hour. One hour is all he has left to, at least, pick up his dirty hoodie. Familiar heaviness sets back in. Why pick it up now when it’ll end up on the ground again anyways?

In the next moment, their entrance door flies open and aggravated footsteps rush towards their sofa in the living room. A nervous voice that doesn’t belong to his bro is the final push he needs to get up and walk downstairs.

The first thing he notices is his Blueberry lying on the sofa. Short, labored breaths are erupting from the small skeleton and marrow is tainting his ridiculously cute battle body. He teleports the last steps right in front of Blue.

“Bro! Oh stars, what happened?”, Stretch looks at the monster who brought him here. It’s Dream. This skeleton doesn’t look like his brother, Nightmare, at all. Even if the guardian of positivity doesn’t look very positive right now.

“We fought against my brother. Unfortunately, Blue got hit… I’m sorry, I have no idea what has gotten into Nightmare, he normally ignores Blue and fights me. But today…”, Dream explains semi-coherent while beginning to heal the injured skeleton. A greenish light envelopes his brother and his breathing gets even and less strained.

But Stretch doesn’t register what’s happening. Nightmare attacked his little bro probably right after their encounter. Is it his fault that the dark skeleton attacked him? This can’t be sheer coincidence.

Waves of deep, throbbing guilt mixed with a sharp agony grow like a cancer within his soul. He reaches for one of the cigarettes on the table and lights it quickly, earning a scolding but sympathetic look from Dream in the process.

He calms down after a few deep drags. “Thanks for, uh, healing my bro.”, Stretch mumbles. Dream smiles reassuringly. “There’s no need to thank me for that… Are you okay? I sense an increase of negative emotions coming from you, even more than usual... Your brother will be back on his feet in no time. Please, don’t worry! That’s just what my brother wants…”

“Yeah, I know. My bro is stronger than he looks, no need to be so _blue_ about it.”, the tall skeleton winks and stubs out his cigarette on a summoned bone. They both watch the ash fall slowly on the carpet without another word. Stars, Blue will get so mad.

Dream, too worried about his friend to laugh at the terrible pun, takes a few steps towards the door. “Well, I’ll get going. Blue needs to rest and he’ll probably sleep until tomorrow. Bye, Stretch!” Busy as always.

“Sure, I bet he has a nice _dream_. See ya.”, he watches him leave. After the guardian disappears, he slouches. “C’mon, bro. Let’s get you tucked in.”, he mumbles more to himself and carries his brother upstairs, holding tightly onto him to stop his hands from shaking.

After his brother lies safely in his neat and tidy bed, Stretch shortcuts into his own room. His orange hoodie waits idly to be picked up. Not today.

He takes the half full honey bottle from his bedside table and sits down on his bed, shifting his lengthy body to sit with the back against the headboard. His thoughts are circling around guilt, burning anger and icy fear. He bitterly regrets provoking Nightmare. His skull meets the bedhead with a dull thump.

The rest of the day passes by outside of his window, whereas his world stands completely still. What should he do about Nightmare? Can he do something at all?

His train of thoughts comes to a crashing halt when Nightmare shows up in the middle of the room. Like he owns this place. This damned smugness will get him killed one day.

A lot of different sized bones surround the intruder and shoot at him without warning. But the god doesn’t feel the need to dodge, the black liquid surrounding his body repairs the damage immediately. “Now that's what I call a zealous welcome.”, he comments nonchalantly.

“Get out! And leave my brother outta this!”, Stretch glared at the enemy, his orange eyelight burning bright in the darkness. Nightmare lifts his brow-bone in slight bemusement. “So, he made it back? What a shame… You were so kind to me yesterday, so I thought why not return the favor.”

“You should be scorching in hell.”, the threat falls out of Papyrus’ mouth before he could rephrase it.

Nightmare’s grin only widens, absorbing the aggression facing him. This will be a fun night. A night with emotions worth a hundred destroyed universes. “We both know that you cannot do this. You are simply not strong enough.”, he notices Stretch’s trembling fists and the wild anger in his eye sockets, “What’s with that look? You were the one holding a speech about rather living in misery than seeking out more power. I granted you misery.”

Stretch is shortcutting right in front of the unwanted visitor, grabbing his jacket and lifting him off his feet to meet him face to face.

Before the tall skeleton can say a word, Nightmare says calmly but with an honesty close to a promise: “Keep doing that. Let’s see if I spare your brother the next time.”

Papyrus’ eyelights vanish. He puts the smaller monster down slowly. The dark skeleton has him right where he wants him. “Blackmail, huh? …What do you want from me?”, he asks. Why bother trying if his bro will be the one suffering due to his noncompliance.

Nightmare readjusts his jacket. “Your soul.”, he says as if simply asking for a cig. “W-what?!”, Stretch takes a step back. That has to be a sick joke. But Night's gaze trails down to his chest, “I hate repeating myself. Let me touch your soul.”

That’s a bad idea. “Why?”, Papyrus covers his chest with his hands in order to calm his fluttering soul. “That is the easiest way to get access to your feelings. Do not worry, you will survive. Most likely. I take what I want and leave you and your dearest brother alone afterwards.”, he explains calmly. How many times has he done that before?

“Don’t you have minions to do things like that?”, Stretch tries to delay the inevitable. There’s still time to run. But his bro is still recovering in his room, alone and unguarded. He can’t leave Blue, he’s the older brother after all. 

All four tentacles are lashing out, how dare he call them ‘minions’?! In order to avoid getting hit by ferocious appendances, Papyrus takes a few steps back. “My group of superior skeletons are numbed due to their LV, your soul on the other hand is lively and soft. Their negativity is like noise in the background, overruled by their lust for EXP and destruction. On top of that, draining them would render them useless for a while.”

Stretch is surprised about the way he talks about the monsters who are probably loyal to him. And if his life wasn’t in danger, he’d find the thought of being ‘useless for a while’ not off-putting at all.

A tentacle pushes him near the bed. “Sit.”, he orders. And Papyrus complies, but not without hesitation. “Seems like I’m gonna have a _bed time_.”, he can’t help himself, that’s how he deals with grave situations.

Nightmare’s expression gets blank. “Stop your annoying _pillow talk_. I like you better whining about how nothing really _mattress_.”

Papyrus’ eye sockets grew wider at the realization of, what is undeniably, a pun. And a bad one on top of that! He starts snickering, “Heh, you’re one of us after all.”

A smile tucks at the corner of the dark skeleton’s mouth. “You will take this revelation to your grave when you don’t summon your soul already.”

His shoulders stiffen, there goes the lighthearted moment. He tries to steady his breath to suppress the upcoming panic. “You’ll leave my bro at peace when I do this, right?”, his voice sounds way too sheepishly for his liking. Why does he even try to hide it, this empath can sense all of his embarrassing feelings anyway.

Nightmare’s now standing in front of the sitting skeleton, which makes them equal in height. His crooked half-smile returns as he senses the uneasiness coming from the skeleton before him. “It seems you and I are both beholden… to family. I promise, our goals are aligned, for I have my own enemies to fight. I have no interest in your younger brother.”

“A promise, huh? I trust in your words, it wouldn’t be very godly of you if you broke a promise.”, and that’s the truth, a promise is binding, no matter the universe. The pun is a good enough indicator for him to believe that… Not like he has another choice though.

There’s no turning back now. He uses every bone in his body to stifle a whimper as his soul finally gives in and appears between them. Common sense screams at him to flee, but he remains in place. Immediately the small soul backs away from the dangerous monster.

The two skeletons share an intense look before Nightmare wraps his fingers around the fragile soul. Fear urges the inverted heart to escape, but with a few well-placed strokes, Nightmare somehow convinced the soul to stop fluttering around.

Stretch watches in awe, surprised by this seemingly easy thing to do. The fear lessens noticeable, which doesn’t make sense to him.

“You, uh, sure this is potentially deadly?”, Stretch shams doubt. “Don’t worry, it will stop feeling good shortly. But I have to prepare you first, your soul would shatter otherwise, and I have no use for your dust.”, Nightmare says. It seems like he knows exactly how to imply the right amount of pressure to ease his phalanges into the soul.

Something snakes around his arms and feet, pushing him backwards to lay on his back while his feet are still hanging over the ledge. “You sure we can’t just do something else? I’m pretty good in bed, I can sleep all day.”, he curses himself for brabbling. 

The strain on his bones increases in silent warning and Stretch chuckles nervously. The trapped skeleton soon figures out that he needs to relax in order to ease the tension a little. He closes his eye sockets and awaits the unavoidable pain.

He can’t say for how long he’s just lying there and waiting. But there’s a weird feeling crawling along his whole body. It’s certainly nothing gentle, but building haze reduces pain perception. Like being dazed, everything feels dull and soft and far away. Perhaps he could just fall asleep and miss the whole thing?

“Hey, Night, I wonder if- fuck!”, a sudden pain blooms in his chest, spreading across his whole body. Even numbness can’t cover the aching sensation. He raises his head to look at his soul. The tips of Nightmare’s fingers are buried into his soul.

It seems cruel but something about it looks kinda hot. Nightmare’s focused look, the way his hand cups his soul while the other works it open with trained precision. The steady pulse coming from the tentacles around his limbs. On top of all that, his magic is trying to defend itself from the intrusion, getting warm and worked-up but doesn’t receive the command to attack.

A stifled moan escapes his mouth. “Shit. That feels way too good to be morally correct.”, he hisses. Nightmare glances at him, studying his face, then chuckles before continuing with the task.

Soon, Stretch longs for more. Much more. He manages to bury his fingers into the tentacles, which earns him a quiet hissing sound from the other. Since he never was a quiet skeleton, staying silent isn’t easy. Should he be embarrassed about the way he feels? Probably.

“What an odd monster you are. Keep moaning if it helps you, just don’t wake your brother.”, Nightmare mumbles. Well, at least his tormentor is fine with it. The dull pain only enhances the pleasure from being touched at his most sensitive part. If he only wasn’t tied up like this, he could… Stars, what the hell is he thinking?!

The negative skeleton interprets Papyrus’ abnormal pleasure as a sign to go one last step further.

Sharp pain robs Stretch of every sense, even his vision gets dark. “Ahhh~ Oh, stars. Heh, what a _nightmare_.”, but apparently his voice is still working just fine. Even though he couldn’t hear if it was clear enough to understand. 

Nightmare looks deadpanned at the punny skeleton, who was indeed very much understandable. The god of negativity pushes deeper inside Stretch’s soul, until his boney fingers disappear almost completely inside, barely visible through the unnaturally bright soul. He smirks knowingly, the soul doesn’t shine so bright because of joy or excitement. It’s ‘bleeding’.

That’s where the fun begins, the way this monster before him moans and trembles from pain or pleasure is turning him on more than he likes to admit.

Nightmare pulls every negative emotion back on the surface, back into Papyrus’ consciousness. One sole whimper is enough to indicate his success. The poor skeleton is doomed to relive every deeply hidden, painful trauma and every sorrow, helplessness, agony, anger, and despair as the god of negativity drains this delicious form of energy out of him.

Tears are gathering in Stretch’s eye sockets, obscuring his vision before trailing along his temples and soaking the bed sheets. But his mind is somewhere else. Back in the Underground. Back to all the times where he witnessed his brother and everyone, he cares about getting killed.

Time loses its meaning for both of them.

After taking a calculating look at the helpless skeleton, the tentacles holding his legs let go. One is winding around his neck before attempting to part his teeth. As satisfying Stretch’s noises are, he can’t risk getting disturbed by Blue. Not now when it finally pays off. His jaw is pleasingly easy to open and the tentacle slides in to muffle the sounds. This skeleton is completely at his mercy.

His eyelight stops at the bulge in Stretch’s shorts. Nightmare chuckles intoxicated by the negativity he receives. “It is not a _stretch_ to assume that someone is having masochistic tendences…”, he comments chokingly.

The other tentacle that let go of his leg makes its way up his femur and hip bone. The waistband is no hindrance, the appendance can slide right beneath it and stroke the full lengths of Stretch’s ecto-member.

A muffled scream erupts from the semi-conscious monster, which soon dies down to a needy whimper. His hips jerk upwards to meet the pumping motion of his tentacle.

Nightmare watches the skeleton shamelessly coming undone right in front of him until his own erection gets nearly impossible to ignore. Just a little longer, he can’t afford to lose his concentration yet.

However, Stretch is faintly aware of what’s happening. Through all the gruesome memories, the skeleton feels how he slowly loses ‘something’. His emotions, perhaps his sanity? Knowing this, it’s uncanny liberating. He’s giving up what weighs him down by showing someone all the things he hid deep in his soul. He doesn’t fight it; Nightmare can have all of him.

The thrusts soon get irregularly, and he pushes against the restraining tentacles. On times like these, Nightmare wished he had one more pair of them.

The glow of the soul dies down dangerously, now at the brink of bleeding to death. That’s his clue to stop. The god stares at the weakened soul before licking over the soft surface. That’s when Stretch screams one last time before tainting the inside of his shorts with cum.

Nightmare releases the soul over its owner’s chest and the inverted heart retreats immediately. Then, he carefully removes all tentacles, not to startle the other… He keeps staring at the other, waiting for him to make a noise or open his eye sockets or anything. He took what he wanted. So, why doesn’t he leave?

“PAPY? I HEARD YOU SCREAMING AGAIN, IS SOMETHING-”, Blue gasps as he sees Nightmare standing in front of his brother, “NIGHTMARE?!” Trying to defend his brother, the member of the Star Sanses summons five floating bones.

How pathetic, apparently the small skeleton is still weakened. Truly, he should be offended at Blue’s attempt to fight him. Night sneers while his tentacles swish around him in anticipation. “The very same.”, his voice sounds more agitated than usual, being invigorated by Stretch’s negativity.

Blue’s bone attack leaves not even a dent in Nightmare’s HP. But why doesn’t he attack him back? That’s why he came here, right? To finish what he tried to do earlier?

But the dark skeleton turns around without another word. A part of him is displeased at the disruption, he wanted to see the look on Stretch’s face when he wakes up. A black portal opens near the bottom end of the bed.

He turns his skull one more time, noticing the weak glow inside of the tormented skeleton. Looks like he’ll survive. Another salve of bones hits his back, his tentacles nearly lash out. But their owner keeps them tamed.

“LEAVE HIM ALONE!”, Blue threatens with radiant blue eyelights. Nightmare doesn’t even glance at the small troublemaker. “Beholden to family indeed…”, he chuckles and walks through the black hole, stepping on Papyrus’ hoodie in the process.

As soon as the portal closes, Blue rushes to his brother’s side with worried eye sockets the size of saucers. Papyrus looks completely spent. “PAPY?... WHAT DID HE DO TO YOU?!”

The voice of his brother brings him back to reality. The first thing he notices is the familiar taste in his mouth. Then, the uncomfortable wetness in his shorts and at last, the absence of emotions.

He feels hollow. Drained. It’s cold and empty where his despair and heartache once was. But he can’t bring himself to worry about that. Other feelings are more present at the moment. Like tiny stars which are solely visible when it’s completely dark and empty everywhere else. One of them is eerie serenity.

“Bro… Is everything alright?”, he asks when his eyelights finally focus on Blue. The worried skeleton stands there, hands on his hips. “I SHOULD BE ASKING THIS QUESTION!”, his voice gets quieter as he speaks, “Nightmare was inside of your room when I checked on you. He… behaved weirdly. He just left when he saw me… He even smiled.”

Stretch sits back up, showing that he’s unharmed. “Nightmare, smiling? Nah, not by any _stretch_ of the imagination. Must’ve been a hell of a _nightmare_ , bro.”, he snickers, whereas Blueberry groans annoyed. “PAPY! I SWEAR, I KNOW WHAT I SAW! NO TIME FOR YOUR PUNS, I WAS DEEPLY WORRIED ABOUT YOU!”

“Don’t worry, bro… He’s gone and we’re safe.”, he reassures the younger brother.

He’s gone…

When Blue left the room, Stretch stood up to remove his hoodie from the ground.


End file.
